Sunshine Can Actually Be Good For You

May 28 - KGO (KGO) -- There's more fuel for the debate over the risk of skin cancer versus the benefits of Vitamin D produced in our skin by sunlight. New research out of Stanford shows getting Vitamin D from the sun might actually help the skin protect itself.

We know sunlight exposure causes our skin cells to produce Vitamin D. Now Stanford University pathology researchers have discovered that it can trigger a protective immune response in the skin itself. Hekla Sigmundsdottir and her colleagues studied immune system cells called T-cells. They found that Vitamin D produced by sunlight causes these protective cells to travel to the skin.

Hekla Sigmundsdottir, Ph.D., Stanford Post-Doctoral Pathology Researcher: "I think just the fact that the Vitamin D can attract or draw T-cells towards the skin is a function that is needed. I think that's why we make vitamin in the skin."

Milk and other dairy can also be a source of Vitamin D. So the researchers tested this type of Vitamin D as well. What they found was that beneficial effects were far less pronounced.

Hekla Sigmundsdottir: "Vitamin D that we obtain through the diet seems to be less effective than the vitamin that is generated in the sun."

As they wrote in the journal, Nature Immunology, the finding suggests our skin has evolved a clever trick to protect itself from sunlight.

Hekla Sigmundsdottir: "I think a little sunshine is good for you. I think the reason we make Vitamin D in the skin indicates that it's there for a reason."

In fact, other research shows small amounts of sun may actually reduce the risk of breast and prostate cancer. But sun worshippers beware -- Dr. Sigmundsdottir means it when she says a little because too much sun is still bad for you.

It only takes 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure, a couple times a week, to make enough Vitamin D. More sunlight than that doesn't help, and can increase your risk of skin cancer.

To learn more about the health benefits of sunlight, click here.

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